The subject of referral traffic may be a bit elementary to many folks who have been networking for a while. However, a few recent discussions with new marketers have led me to the conclusion that a brief commentary on the subject might be well received.

Referral traffic is web traffic you receive when you refer other people to the viral traffic programs (traffic exchanges, ad replicators, and similar systems) you are a member of. For the sake of simplicity, I will use traffic exchanges as my primary example in this article.

While there are a few exceptions, the huge majority of exchanges operate a referral traffic system. When you register a new account with a traffic exchange, you will be given a special affiliate URL for the purpose of building your downline in that program. Many exchanges will award you with an instant bonus of free traffic credits each time you refer a new member, and nearly all exchanges grant you an amount of referral traffic that is equal to a percentage of the traffic your downline generates while they surf.

If you are a member of Traffic Roundup, for instance, you will get an amount of free, referral traffic equal to 10% of the traffic your personal referrals generate when they surf. This means if you refer one person who earns 100 credits per week, you will get 10 free traffic credits each week from this referral. Take a moment to estimate the amount of free, ongoing traffic you could receive if you built a downline of 10, 20, or 30 personal referrals at Traffic Roundup.

Also, consider the fact that you will receive referral traffic from all active surfers recruited by your downline. Many exchanges award referral traffic benefits on five or more levels.

As you can see, the benefits of building strong downlines in your favorite traffic programs are considerable. It would be well worth a little effort on your part to lay the foundations of a solid referral traffic network.

I have worked passively to build my traffic downlines over the past year, and I receive a few thousand free hits to my web sites each month as a result of referral surfing activity. Other people I know have worked aggressively toward the building of their traffic downlines, and receive thousands of free hits every day from the efforts of their referral network.

Like just about everything in this business, building a referral traffic network is an ongoing process. You won't see amazing results in your first week, but after a few months of consistent work, you should start to experience some of benefits of "hands free" traffic flow. With a full year of continued effort, you could be well on your way to several hundred, maybe even several thousand, free hits every day.

Tim Whiston has enjoyed network marketing on the world wide web since April of 2003. He publishes a monthly ezine, and is the author of Net Marketing Exposed.